Autumn
by always-kh
Summary: Sakura muses on the season her thoughts on it- which vary greatly, the changes it's brought, and her team. And how it all- they all- fit together. hints of SakuSasu and/or SakuNaru if you squint. challenge fic won Tightest Bonds and Sweetest Stories


A/N: Sasuka-centric challenge fic, title is the prompt. Hints of SakuSasu and/or SakuNaru if you squint because i love team seven angst and fluff and their interactions.

genres: hurt/comfort, angst, fluff ie family/romance-y things, hopefully some humor, etc

shameless plug: This has strong potential tie-ins to other naruto pieces i'm working on. feel free to check those out too.

And so many apologies to my KH fans. I know i know i know i suck. I'll update i swear. Really. it's just this fandom has sucked me in. Well specifically team seven and the sannin but i love the minor characters too.

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Autumn

It had been her most beloved season as a child. It meant daddy would be home more—or at the very, very least working closer to home as the northernmost passages often froze over making civilian travel, especially heavily laden types, practically impossible. It meant that the trees and everything were particularly beautiful and vibrant and everything crackled and sang underfoot and the breeze nipped at her cheeks pleasantly chilling and she could go inside and sit and cuddle with mamma and da when he was home.

Then she became a ninja and it made cover and sensory detection both easier and harder, mostly because Naruto was an idiot, so they traveled by ground rather than using chakra to go from tree to tree because of his lack of control and yes enviable power that could _blow up_ _trees_. Seriously. It was disgusting he could have and use that amount of power easily if his concentration slipped or he panicked. And he was also noisy as could be. On the plus side it did help his obnoxious orange suit blend in somewhat.

And then eventually came the time when she realized just how _cold_ it got and how little room they had to maneuver and that it meant that she had to change with the boys around for both safety and heat. Giving Naruto copious punches if she so much as suspected that he might have even tried to peek or so much as seemed to _think_ about it, ensured that he hardly dared to breathe as she changed— covering his eyes and turning his back and ducking his head and everything it was kind of funny actually as he actually tried for once to make himself as small and unremarkable as possible. And to her dismay Sasuke never seemed even the least bit interested in trying to sneak a peek. She attributed it to him being a gentleman, unlike _someone_ in their group, (Naruto cough) but still, she was there changing, naked or practically so, behind him, couldn't he show some sign of well anything? At least Kakashi had not exhibited any of his seemingly pervy tendencies as that would have been incredibly incredibly unnerving but he seemed just as awkwarded out by it as she (almost as much as when he was trying to see if she had been given the talk and their later discussion on her (correctly) assumed virginity and the euphemistic suggestions that she lose it and by Kami if they were not both red as beets by the end of it. She'd even venture that he'd verged on purple. She'd just wanted enemy nin to show up then and there, though luck never did favor her).

And then Sasuke leaves her and she learns the hard way that it's when things begin to die (like their team because he's gone and how could he do that?!) and even though it's so prettily it's because the last bit of energy is fading and all that's left is the empty shell (a bit like her as she cries and cries until the tears stop and she's dry heaving and it's all because there's nothing left inside her). It's the point of dimming hope (Sasuke left her out on a cold bench out in the open and as much as she tries to defend him that at least he moved her there instead of leaving her in an undignified heap he still left her and rejected her love and it hurts and she'd always hoped he loved her back just a little), the prelude to the dreariness of winter, and death (maybe even of her love too because he's a traitor and really maybe she shouldn't have loved him and she certainly shouldn't have offered to join him because she thinks of all the people she would have betrayed then and didn't care about and she cries then because she was so selfish and still is because she still wants him even though she knows he can't come back and she wants to join him instead but she has to kill that desire because she just _can't_ do that), and gray all around.

But it gets grayer when she didn't even think that was possible because Naruto leaves too. And how can he do that to her?

And now there's the rain and how the daylight gets shorter and the night longer which registers even more now and she misses the sun and it's just not fair. Why does it always rain? She hates the rain. It chills to the bone and cuts and bites and reminds her of her very mortality because she's become a medic now, one of the very best, and even she can't do anything about something as simple as a common cold besides speed up the miserable process a bit. And she hates the dark and she hates how it all just seems so useless and bleak sometimes.

She hates how she's called in for missions much closer to home where she has no chance of managing to accidentally-on-purpose run into them (or at least Naruto, because she knew where Sasuke was somewhat) at food stands in distant villages and most travel and missions slowed and she had way too much time on her hands to think (though Tsunade's brutal training sessions are welcome blessings). Still she worries and hardly ever receives information on them or their whereabouts, and even when she does it's months old, so she doesn't know if they're still alright- because they're her idiots and don't take enough care. All this effort, all the tears and blood and hurt where's it going? Of course she wants them back and everyone assumes it's just Sasuke she cries over and wants back but it's _not_ and she wants to see Naruto again too, even if he's completely annoying and infuriating and left her too, he's… he's someone she can count on and so lively and part of her team and she can't let him get stronger on his own. It gets cold and her body protests if she waits too long at the gate (because Sasuke has to change his mind and come back and Naruto for all his idiocy's one of the luckiest guys she's ever met and if anyone could make a several year training session end much more quickly it would be him). She won't get left behind this time. But it's still cold dark and rainy and she wonders and thinks of tragic tales of sailor's wives, and nin, and long fruitless waits and tries not to cry.

Naruto finally makes his way back to her and they wait together and it's more bearable. She has part of her team back and she isn't going to let anything as silly as time of year keep her from reuniting their team. Seasons don't matter. Naruto teaches her that when she tries to explain why Fall makes her sad and gloomy 'and not like you at all Sakura-chan! But we can do it, believe it!' and he smiles and she does too because he just gives her that look and that smile and really what else can she do? And of course he then follows it up shortly after by proving that his pervy teachers have rubbed off on him and using that stupid technique of his and spying on the women's baths and it's satisfying to crack her knuckles and watch him pale, and laugh, and send him flying. Even then though he wears a grin and tells her it was still worth it with an exaggerated leer and a thumbs up and she finds herself laughing and giving him a light bop upside the head and laughing even more and she can't even remember how long it's been since she laughed that hard what with his dorky grin even with his black eye and fat lip and his cocky attitude and it's just so Naruto and just wow. He really hasn't changed either. And she's glad for that somehow. Weird.

Maybe Autumn is magical instead.

**END**

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_A/N:_ So hopefully Kakashi's mention in here didn't seem too ooc. i can see him totally reveling in making other people uncomfortable but i can also see this whole thing being so completely out of his depth but part of his duty. and so awkwardness ensues. i mean he's cool and badass but he's still socially stunted. and i like awkward Kakashi because it's funny.

anyway reviews are always great.


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